‘He’s Our Guy in the Middle’: Why Foley Fatukasi Still Has the Trust of the Jaguars To Make an Impact
Known as a run stuffing phenom on the interior of the defensive line throughout his time with the New York Jets, defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi struggled to replicate that production in his first year with Jacksonville.
The 28-year-old appeared in 14 games last season, amassing 24 total tackles, two tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits, all career lows. His 1.5 sacks were the second highest mark of his career, but his struggles in run defense largely overshadowed that production.
For a player that signed a three-year $30 million contract last offseason, the production certainly did not live up to par. Despite the struggles, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson made clear that his faith in Fatukasi has not wavered.
“He’s going to be somebody that can hopefully dominate the middle or interior of that offensive line,” Pederson said. “He’s our guy in the middle, and you want him to be able to push the pocket and generate some power there. Especially if he’s working as a nose and working one-on-one with centers and things like that. That’s the expectation. It goes back to just keeping players in the right spots and making sure they can be the best there. That’s what he’s done, and just taking his game one more notch up. His expectations are high and so are ours and he’s on the right track.”
The path toward improvement starts with the right mindset. Through training camp so far, the willingness and dedication to achieve a higher level of performance has been evident for the 28-year-old.
“Just how he’s attacked this training camp. He came in, great frame of mind, he wanted to get back to the player he was when we evaluated him as a free agent,” Pederson said. “He’s done that. He’s been really impressive in these two weeks, he’s coming off the ball pad-levels low, and you’re starting to see those signs of a second-year player in our system, much like Roy [DL Roy Robertson-Harris] where their game now can go to the next level. He’s really embraced that. Again, he understands that, and he knows where he needs to be in and he’s heading in that direction.”
